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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPSCC Feb 24 2011 PUBLIC fAFETY COORDINATING COUNCIL Minutes of Meeting February 24, 2011 Convened: 3:35 p.m. Adjourned: 4:35 p.m. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Craft called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m. in Conference Room # 3, 230o Virginia A~enue, Fort Pierce, Florida. ROLL CALL Roll call was taken. Me~nbers Present: Commissioner Chris Craft, Chairman Suzanne Caudell, CORE Program lohn Thompson for Thomas Mark, Department of Corrections lohn Romano, New Horizons Pat Tighe, Major Judge Philip 1. Yacucci,l9t" Circuit Diamond Litty, Public Defender Dennis Schmidt for lanet Collins, Bail Association Tom Genung for Chief ludge Ste~en Le~in,l9t" Circuit Me~nbers Absent: Ken Mascara, Sheriff of SLC Bruce Colton, State Attorney Others Present: Mark Godwin, SLC Criminal lustice Coordinator Ethel Rowland, Taxpayer Broderick Underwood, SLC Analyst Lisa Sa~age, SLC Pre-Trial Program Kristen Trabulsy, Aide to Chairman Craft APPROVAL OF MINUTEf: The minutes from lanuary 27, 2011 were unanimously appro~ed. Publie fafety Coordinatin9 Couneil February 24, 2011 Pa9e 2 UPDATE by fLC fherriff's Offiee- Major Ti9he on behalf of fheriff Maseara: Major Tighe reported the jail population was at 1194, of that 78 were federal inmates. He retracted his prediction from last month when he stated the population would go up to 150o by March. Major Tighe brought to e~eryone's attention a packet on the table with information from Florida Partners in Crisis (a Mental Health State Group) attached to the packet was form letters to send to Senators urging them not to cut Mental Health funding. Major Tighe urged members to write a letter to the Senators with that ~ery request. He indicated that if there are cuts to mental health funding, the jail population will increase. UPDATE by Cri~ninal Ju~iee Coordinator- Mar~ Godwin: To follow up on what Major Tighe reported, Mark inquired about the Mental Health and Substance abuse funding with the Florida Association of Counties. FAC indicated the funding is set aside in the go~ernor's budget, but it is the States and Human Ser~ices Committee that has talked about cutting Mental Health and Substance Abuse funding by $30o million. This would de~astate our community and increase our jail population o~er night. Furthermore, the Mental Health Court Grant we ha~e with the Department of Children and Families will be ending soon. The grant was set to end in March this year, but was gi~en an extension per his request until September 30, 2011 (the Counties fiscal year end). He was then ad~ised the extension was shortened to the States fiscal year end,lune 3ot" 2011. This will lea~e three months of our fiscal year without the program unless some type of funding or another grant comes through. SLC applied for a two hundred thousand dollar grant and at this point is unaware if it will be awarded. BOCC Commissioner, Chairman Craft mentioned the Go~ernor's proposed budget will effect local go~ernment. He specified the County lail operations would directly be affected. He also ad~ised that the County is looking to hire a State Lobbyist so that we ha~e communication as to the goings on in each of the committees in Tallahassee. Chairman Craft reported the fact that Florida Association of Counties only work if all sixty-se~en counties agree has put us in a weak position to lobby effecti~ely. He explained if we are able to hire a lobbyist and coordinate these efforts with The Florida Sheriff's Association or an agency like the League of Cities, we would be more effecti~e. Members were urged to inform the legislators when e~er opportunity permits of the real numbers and effects that we face with the proposed budgets. In addition, let them know that we ha~e worked for too long and too hard to get our system where it is today, only to see the benefit we ha~e seen disappear o~ernight. Major Tighe added that not only the State's budget, but Washington's budget will affect us because the discretionary spending will be eliminated. Any Federal grants that were to be gi~en ha~e also been eliminated along with any opportunity to apply for more. The federal VA Grant is still a~ailable and those funds will help prepare for when the men and woman come home from ser~ice. Publie fafety Coordinatin9 Couneil February 24, 2011 Pa9e 3 Mr. Godwin continued with his update regarding inmate medical costs and how efforts are being made to allow the County to pay the same rate as the Department of Corrections. The County has and continues to pay up to four hundred percent abo~e what the Medicare rates would be. Negotiations with Hospitals continue. The Florida Sheriff's Association has taken action with the efforts of Sheriff Coats. Chairman Craft plans to attend a NACO conference dealing with the Medicare and Medicaid costs relating to the County 1ail. Go~ernor Scott is attempting to eliminate Medicaid through his budgeting process o~er the next three years. If that were to happen, our costs would be e~en more astronomical. Mr. Godwin reported that D11 and Florida counties are ha~ing weekly "webinars" regarding the detention cost share process. The Monthly Detention Center report was re~iewed and discussed. Chairman Craft requested two items listed under the: Top 25 Ranked Charges during December 2010, which were Traffic offenders and Hold on defendants to be broken down further for next month's meeting. JUDICIAL UPDATE- To~n Genun9 for Chief Jud9e Levin: Mr. Genung ga~e an update on the construction at the courthouse. He spoke of an ele~ator that needs to be installed to transport prisoners from the first floor to the holding cells. The estimated time on that is fi~e months from whate~er the start date is. The construction time line for the court rooms was extended three months. E~en with the operations of Se~enth Street (1u~enile) being mo~ed to the main downtown Courthouse, there will still be an additional courtroom a~ailable e~en if 1u~enile Dependency and Delinquency cases take up two courtrooms. OLD BUfINEff: Mr. Godwin mentioned that at the last meeting the Board was asked to pass a resolution to the Senate Legislati~e Delegation recommending no cuts be made to mental health and substance abuse funding. The Board did pass the resolution. Mr. Romano, CEO of New Horizons thanked Chairman Craft for that. NEW BUfINEff: Mr. Romano thanked e~eryone who wrote letters to Senator Negron and others in support of not cutting funding for mental health and substance abuse. He informed the group of his ongoing efforts. Mr. Romano sent a letter to the Go~ernor thanking him for not cutting the funding. He does anticipate some type of cuts in the future. The group discussed ideas on how to communicate effecti~ely to the Legislators in Tallahassee in order to show them that it is cost effecti~e to ha~e these types of programs. It may cost to run the programs we ha~e but it is Publie fafety Coordinatin9 Couneil February 24, 2011 Pa9e 4 minimal in comparison to the costs of inmates in the jail. The group was asked to support the Sheriff's office when it's time to renew the contract with Prison Health Ser~ices (PHS) instead of them ha~ing to go out to bid. Experience in the past has shown when it goes out to bid the medical costs rise. It went up 16% in the past e~en though they were the lowest bidder. Some people want the contract to go out for bid because Hospital costs ha~e gone up, but Major Tighe explained that has nothing to do with the Hospital costs. A Citizen, Ms. Rowland read a brief summary of Cato's Letter on: How the War on Drugs Is Destroying Black America, by lohn McWhorter. Please see attached. She also mentioned President Obama had his second Town Hall Meeting on U tube and the top question asked was whether or not the issue of legalizing drugs was a legitimate topic to discuss. Ms. Rowland reported the President did not agree with legalizing drugs, but agreed it was a legitimate topic. She suggested watching the ~ideo to hear more. Ms. Rowland ad~ised that this topic will come up in the near future and it will affect budgets. Diamond Litty, Public Defender announced a program called Life Builders of the Treasure Coast. The program has been around for a year and a half now and was designed to fill the gaps that public funding could not address. They pro~ide items needed for a job after successfully completing a Program ordered by the Court. They ha~e recently gone public with this program and there is a website with more information and qualification guidelines: lifebuilderstc.com. ADJOURNMENT: Chairman Craft adjourned the meeting at 4:35 p.m. Submitted by, Carlene Busse THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD March 31, 2011